Kids hit the mat again -- Club tries to bring wrestling back to middle schools

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STAMFORD -- The Stamford Junior Wrestling Club (SJWC) is doing all they can to bring the sport of wrestling back into the middle schools in the area.

Jamie Camacho, president of the organization, along with some others, have conducted multiple ways to bring the sport into the young community.

For example, they have a program called the Stamford Junior Wrestling Warriors, which is held two or three nights a week at Westhill High School, according to Tom Conte, vice president of the organization. This program allows children from grades K-through-8 to learn the art and skills of wrestling, no matter how advanced the wrestler's skill level might be.

"Starting in January, we have an afterschool program in all five Stamford middle schools (Cloonan, Dolan, Rippowam, Scofield-Magnet, Turn of River), with about 75 kids in total who have signed up," Conte said. "We made it our goal to bring wrestling back into the middle schools."

Conte also talked about stretching their horizons even farther by starting a program at the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford in March.

"It's going to be a great venue for us to introduce wrestling to those kids," said Conte. "We were fortunate to have a big donor to come in and basically purchase a mat for that program and the Boys and Girls Club purchased a mat, as well," added Gene Edwards, treasurer of the organization.

However, with the group being a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit, Tax Exempt Community Organization, the only money they have to provide for equipment is from donations and sponsorships.

"We want to keep building the program. We currently have about 175 kids and our goal is to double that in two years," Edwards said. "But with that, we need help from the community, we need parental support, we need financial support."

Edwards added that about one-third of the children in the program are on scholarship.

"We will not turn away a single kid because their families cannot pay," said Conte. "We forego about $10,000 in fees a year, so we have to raise a lot of money to cover that just so we can exist."

The wrestling club has gotten a lot of much-needed support from parents in the community and they are also making an effort to get corporate sponsors, as well.

"A few have come forward -- Mastercard, Titan (Titan Advisors, LLC), R.W.Pressrich & Co., -- and Nellie Mae Foundation was great to us last year," said Conte.

All are welcome to take part.

"We never turn anybody away," said Camacho. "If you are willing to work hard and come down here, you belong in our wrestling ring."

Upon showing up to the program, the children are put into skill levels -- A & B. A is the beginner class and B being the advanced. For those that surpass the B level, they have one-on-one training sessions with a coach.

The program, according to Camacho, was started over 20 years ago at the Stamford Jewish Community Center by Sally and Marty Levine. Camacho added that it started in, what was described as, a storage closet in the community center with about 10 kids and as it grew, it was moved to the main gym.

After running the program for more than 10 years, the Levines handed the program off to those who represent it now. With a lot of work from Mike Battinelli, director of the middle school program, as well as Camacho, Conte and Edwards, they have formalized the program by making it a non-profit and have also formed a board of committee members. Additionally, they also built a website to run the organization as a corporation, according to Conte.

With all the money and effort that is put into keeping the organization afloat, Conte touched on what really matters most to them.

"What we're trying to do is to make an impact on kids' lives and we're trying to teach them life-time skills, as well," Conte said. "Whether these kids become state champions, national champions or wrestle in college, that would all be nice, but just making them champions in life is all I would hope for."

For more information about the organization, go to Stamfordwrestling.com.